End-Running Senate Obstruction

GOPers Rage At Obama's Recess Appointments, Welcomed Them Under Bush

President Obama on Saturday announced the recess appointment of 15 political appointees whose nominations had been stalled by Republicans.
"The United States Senate has the responsibility to approve or disapprove of my nominees. But if, in the interest of scoring political points, Republicans in the Senate refuse to exercise that responsibility, I must act in the interest of the American people and exercise my authority to fill these positions on an interim basis," Obama said in a statement.
"Most of the men and women whose appointments I am announcing today were approved by Senate committees months ago, yet still await a vote of the Senate. At a time of economic emergency, two top appointees to the Department of Treasury have been held up for nearly six months. I simply cannot allow partisan politics to stand in the way of the basic functioning of government."

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What a pair of friking losers!!!!!!!!

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VIDEO: The Extreme, Violent Rhetoric Of GOP Lawmakers

Yesterday, House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) falsely charged that his office was “directly threatened” in a gun attack. Cantor used the incident to provide partisan cover to his unruly GOP colleagues, who have been pandering to tea party activists with increasingly unhinged and extreme rhetoric.
Last weekend, as the House vote on health reform legislation neared, Republican lawmakers whipped tea party crowds into an angry mob. For instance, Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX) spoke to the crowd with a megaphone, conjuring up debunked conspiracy theories about government spying into medical records and decrying what he called “tyranny.” Rep. Steve King (R-IA) held up a picture of Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) for the crowd, mocking it and “slapping” it. Throughout the day, the tea party protesters accosted Democratic members of Congress with racial and homophobic slurs, and one protester even spat on Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO).
Cantor asserted that no lawmaker “would incite threats.” However, ThinkProgress has compiled a short snapshot of Republican lawmakers speeches to angry tea party crowds throughout the year, using extremely violent rhetoric. The compilation below features Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX), Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO), Rep. Wally Herger (R-CA), Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), and King:
MCCAUL: They fought against tyranny and oppressive taxes, do that sound familiar? We’re continuing that revolution right here in Austin, Texas today. Thomas Jefferson said the Tree of Liberty will be fed by the blood of tyrants and patriots. You are the modern day patriots. [...]
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Man who threw money at Parkinson’s patient calls behavior ‘shameful’

Edited on Thu Mar-25-10 10:53 AM by Botany
Source: Columbus Dispatch

The man protesting federal health-care legislation who berated and tossed dollar bills at a supporter with Parkinson's
disease last week says he is remorseful - and scared.

"I snapped, I absolutely snapped, and I can't explain it any other way," said Chris Reichert in a Dispatch interview.

snip

"He's got every right to do what he did, and some may say I did, too, but what I did was shameful," Reichert said.
"I haven't slept since that day."

snip

"I made a donation (to a local Parkinson's disease group), and that starts the healing process."
LinkHere

AEI, David Frum: Ex-Bush Speechwriter Will Lose Health Benefits

Talk about a two-fer. In one stroke, David Frum has become not only the poster boy for the Republican party’s incoherent tantrums, but for the need for Obamacare itself! It doesn’t get more delicious than this.

AEI hits David Frum where it hurts

Those Republican brutes! It’s bad enough not to tolerate David Frum’s dissent on health care -- especially since his judgments have been stunningly correct. But in ousting him after a mad overnight revolt among its donors, the American Enterprise Institute has put Frum’s family into precisely the health care hell that Obamacare seeks to remedy. What many people don’t realize about the think tank world is that the policy types who serve as modestly paid fellows do so in large part for the health coverage. In our antiquated employer-based system, middle-aged wonks simply have to be attached to a group to be insurable. If you and your spouse have reached your 40s and have had even modest health bumps along the way, you'll never be able to get coverage in the pre-Obamacare individual market (as my wife and I discovered and documented in this New York Times Magazine piece a few years ago).
Luckily for the Frums, big government is here to save them. (Frum and I are friendly, by the way – he served for several years as the “right” on “Left, Right & Center,” the public radio program on which I’m the “center”). One existing government program, COBRA, assures that the Frums can stay on AEI’s health plan for 18 months, though they’ll have to foot the bill now for the full family premium (without AEI picking up the typical employer’s 70 percent of the tab). But the better news is that once Obamacare’s new insurance exchanges are up and running in 2014, the Frums – and the other 300 million of us – will never have to worry about being shut out of insurance coverage because AEI doesn’t like what we say. Of course, if the Frums move to Massachusetts, they can get coverage from Mitt Romney’s health-care exchange right away – thanks to the pioneering 2005 reform that Romney, consumed by presidential ambition, keeps trying, inexplicably, to disavow.
Talk about a two-fer. In one stroke, David Frum has become not only the poster boy for the Republican party’s incoherent tantrums, but for the need for Obamacare itself! It doesn’t get more delicious than this.
LinkHere

U.S. take if it sells its Citi stake to settle cost of bailout: $8 billion

By David ChoWashington Post Staff Writer Saturday, March 27, 2010
Among the banks that rule Wall Street, Citigroup got a bailout that was bigger than the rest. Now the company is about to pay a king's ransom for its federal rescue.
The Obama administration is making final preparations to sell its stake in the New York bank, according to industry and federal sources. At today's prices, the sale would net more than $8 billion, by far the largest profit returned from any firm that accepted bailout funds, and the transaction would be the second-largest stock sale in history.
On paper, the government's 27 percent stake has grown in value to $33 billion. The size of the deal in the works has Wall Street buzzing. Only the stock offering by Japan's Nippon Telegraph and Telephone, which raised $36.8 billion in 1987, was larger, according to Thomson Reuters.
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In hearts filled with darkness, darkness will prevail

Morality is the application of virtue and virtue is the respect for things and beings.

Socrates

The Selling of the American Soul

Beth Arnold, 03.26.2010
Journalist and award-winning writer, living in Paris
What is the difference between some of these American leaders and extremist Muslim imams who call for terrorist actions? LinkHere

Texas Newborn Denied Health Insurance Over 'Pre-Existing Condition'

Leading Country of the free world, I don't think so, God bless AustraliaCrowley newborn with heart defect is denied insurance coverage

At birth, Houston Tracy let out a single loud cry before his father cut the cord and handed him to a nurse.
Instantly, Doug Tracy knew something was wrong with his son.
"He wasn't turning pink fast enough," Tracy said. "When they listened to his chest, they realized he had an issue."
That turned out to be d-transposition of the great arteries, a defect in which the two major vessels that carry blood away from the heart are reversed. The condition causes babies to turn blue.
Surgery would correct it, but within days of Houston's birth March 15, Tracy learned that his application for health insurance to cover his son had been denied. The reason: a pre-existing condition.
"How can he have a pre-existing condition if the baby didn't exist until now?" Tracy asked.
New federal legislation that will prevent insurance companies from denying children coverage based on a pre-existing condition comes too late for the Tracys. The legislation, passed by Congress and signed by President Barack Obama this week, won't go into effect until September.
But Houston, who is hospitalized at Cook Children's Medical Center in Fort Worth, needs coverage now.
Without surgery, babies with this condition often die soon after birth, although some may live as long as a year, said Dr. Steve Muyskens, a pediatric cardiologist.
"In his case, we had to intervene in the first days of life," Muyskens said. LinkHere

RNC Loses Bid To Raise Unlimited Money

WASHINGTON — A federal court Friday denied a Republican Party bid to raise soft money, the unlimited donations from corporations and individuals banned by a 2002 campaign finance law. In a separate ruling, judges said a conservative group can raise unlimited sums for independent election ads but must regularly disclose its donors.
In a case brought by the Republican National Committee, a three-judge panel of the U.S. District Court in Washington said it lacks the authority to overturn a Supreme Court ruling that upheld the ban on soft money fundraising by national party committees. That ban is a cornerstone of the so-called McCain-Feingold law and one of the few major parts of the law to survive court challenges.
The RNC had argued that it should be able to raise soft money for state elections, congressional redistricting, legal costs and other activities that it said had nothing to do with federal elections. The Federal Election Commission contended the soft money ban should be upheld.
Joining the RNC in the lawsuit were the California Republican Party, San Diego County Republican Party and RNC Chairman Michael Steele. The court also rejected their arguments that the law's soft money ban shouldn't apply to their fundraising for various activities.
The RNC did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the ruling, including whether it will appeal to the Supreme Court. LinkHere

PALIN: GOP IS THE

LOSERS!!!!!!!

NJmikeV

Oh sweet irony ! The woman who helped his demise in '08 is now helping him in '10.

TUCSON, Ariz. — John McCain and Sarah Palin have taken the stage at their first campaign rally together since losing the presidential election in 2008.
A crowd of thousands cheered wildly as the former running mates took the stage at the Pima County Fairgrounds in Tucson. Some in the crowd chanted, "Sarah."
Palin was a first-term governor of Alaska when McCain chose her to be his running mate. She went on to become a conservative star.
McCain is fending off a primary challenge from the right and facing the toughest re-election campaign of his Senate career.
Former congressman and conservative talk-radio host JD Hayworth says McCain is too moderate for Arizona Republicans.

LinkHere

NaturallySelected
Wow! It's kind of like being at the zoo...the "loser" zoo.

David Frum, AEI SPLIT: Conservative's Position 'Terminated' By Major Think Tank

Richter

So it turns out that the American Enterprise Institute isn't a think tank -- it's a think-what-we-think-or-else tank.

Following the passage of health care reform in the House, Frum made waves with a column for CNN.com declaring that health care had proven to been "Waterloo" for the GOP, not for Obama as Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) infamously suggested. Republican lawmakers quickly dismissed Frum, a prominent reformist conservative, as a mere "former staffer."
Then Frum said on "Nightline" that the Republican Party's lockstep with the Fox News attack machine has hurt the party, and that "we're discovering we work for Fox." That may have been the last straw for AEI. LinkHere

Bruce Bartlett, David Frum, and the Closing of the Conservative Mind
Michael J.W. Stickings, 03.26.2010
Founder and editor of The Reaction, a liberal political blog
The American mind may very well still be closing, in a cultural way, but the conservative mind seems to have been shut down altogether.

Republicans' rough road to repeal

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House Health Care Bill Vote Completes Package: House Passes Fixes By 220-207

House Approves Final Piece Of Health Care Overhaul

WASHINGTON — Capping an epic struggle, congressional Democrats put the final touches Thursday to historic legislation enshrining health care as the right of every citizen. Republicans vowed to campaign for repeal in the fall election season, drawing a quick retort from President Barack Obama: "I welcome that fight."
The president spoke in Iowa as the Senate voted 56-43 for legislation making changes, including better benefits for seniors and low-income and middle-class families, to the bill he signed into law with a flourish at the White House on Tuesday.
The House added its approval a few hours later, 220-207, clearing the way for Obama's signature on the second of two bills that marked the culmination of what the president called "a year of debate and a century of trying" to ensure coverage for nearly all in a nation where millions lack it. Obama is expected to sign the legislation early next week. LinkHere

GOP'S FINAL ACT BEFORE LEAVING TOWN: BLOCKING JOBLESS BENEFITS AGAIN

Senate Plays Game Of Chicken With Unemployment Benefits

Sources: Iran-Contra operative linked to questionable spy program

From Barbara Starr, CNN Pentagon correspondent
March 24, 2010 3:33 p.m. EDT
Washington (CNN) -- A former high-ranking CIA official who was involved in the Iran-Contra scandal has worked on an alleged ad hoc spy program that the Pentagon is investigating, CNN has learned.
Duane "Dewey" Clarridge -- who was pardoned for his alleged role in the Reagan-era scandal by President George H. W. Bush in the waning hours of his presidency in 1992 -- is using contacts in Afghanistan and Pakistan to obtain information for the Pentagon, according to former government officials familiar with the current program.
They declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue.
The Pentagon has launched an assessment of the roles of at least three contractor companies with more than $20 million in contracts, according to Pentagon officials
Defense Secretary Robert Gates wants to know if bounds were overstepped. LinkHere

U.K. Court Allows Extradition of Lawyer in KBR Bribery Case

March 25, 2010, 11:26 AM EDT
By James Lumley and Lindsay Fortado
March 25 (Bloomberg) -- Jeffrey Tesler, a British lawyer wanted by Houston prosecutors over allegations he helped bribe Nigerian officials to win contracts in a $6 billion natural gas project, can be extradited to the U.S., a London judge ruled today.
District Judge Caroline Tubbs ruled that the case is appropriate for extradition. At a hearing in January, Tesler’s lawyers said he shouldn’t be extradited because the case has “strong links” to the U.K., and British prosecutors are carrying out their own investigation.
Tesler and another U.K. citizen were indicted on Feb. 17 last year by a federal grand jury in Houston, accused of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. If convicted of all charges, each faces a maximum prison sentence of 55 years.
The case is part of an investigation into Houston-based KBR Inc. over bribes to Nigerian officials to win contracts to build a liquefied-natural gas project. KBR in February 2009 agreed with former parent Halliburton Co. to pay $579 million to resolve U.S. criminal and regulatory charges related to the Nigeria project. LinkHere

"DROP DEAD":

'White powder' sent to Dem's office

Rep. Weiner (D-NY) gets a scare as letter jeers 'drop dead' over health reform.

Convicted high-ranking officials include a circuit court judge, county clerk and school superintendent

Election officials guilty of fraud

Officials in Clay County, KY face jail for changing votes to favor GOP.

Convicted high-ranking officials include a circuit court judge, county clerk and school superintendent
Each face up to 20 years in broad conspiracy that included manipulation of electronic voting machines...

All eight defendants in Clay County, Kentucky's election fraud trial have been found guilty today by a federal jury. Six of those eight were high-ranking election officials, including the county clerk, a circuit judge and the school superintendent. The conspirators were charged with having manipulated federal elections in 2002, 2004 and 2006 by buying and selling votes and manipulating electronic voting machines.
According to AP, each of the now-convicted felons could face up to 20 years in prison for what prosecutors had described as a conspiracy to manipulate elections for decades in the rural, heavily Republican county.
In additional to federal racketeering, several of the defendants were also convicted of charges that included mail fraud, extortion and laundering money used to buy votes. LinkHere

Latest US-Israeli Point Of Tension Sparked By American Developer's Housing Plans

This story has been updated
The latest housing controversy that's throwing a wrench in US-Israeli relations was sparked by an American developer, who's converting an old hotel in East Jerusalem into 20 apartments.
The approval of the project, funded by Florida-based philanthropist Irving Moskowitz, was announced on Tuesday -- the same day that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was meeting with President Obama at the White House to discuss recent tensions over Jewish expansion in East Jerusalem, which has been condemned by the Obama administration.
Last year, the 20-unit project on the site of the former Shepherd Hotel in the Palestinian-dominated neighborhood of Sheik Jarrah, was denounced by American officials who "pressured Israel to halt the project," reports the Los Angeles Times. "Israel refused, defending its right to build in all parts of Jerusalem."
A White House official told the LA Times that the administration still opposes the project and is seeking "clarification" about Tuesday's approval announcement from Israeli officials.
US-Israeli relations were rocked earlier this month when the Israeli government announced its approval of a 1600-unit project in another Palestinian neighborhood of East Jerusalem during Vice President Joe Biden's trip to Israel -- US officials interpreted the move as an "insult."
Moskowitz has aroused controversy for years for his land purchases in Arab neighborhoods in East Jerusalem, many of which were approved by Netanyahu during his previous tenure as prime minister. The two have a long relationship ever since Moskowitz played a crucial role in opening a research institute named after Netanyahu's brother, Yonatan, a legendary soldier who died during the famous Entebbe rescue operation in 1976.
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Exclusive / Despite row, U.S. and Israel sign massive arms deal

As Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in Washington this week absorbing the full wrath of the Obama administration, the Pentagon and Israel's defense establishment were in the process of sealing a large arms deal. According to the deal, Israel will purchase three new Hercules C-130J airplanes. The deal for the three aircrafts, designed by Lockheed Martin, is worth roughly a quarter billion dollars. Each aircraft costs $70 million. The aircrafts were manufactured specifically for Israeli needs, and include a large number of systems produced by Israel's defense industry.
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The deal will be covered by American foreign assistance funds. The Pentagon will issue a formal announcement on the matter on Thursday evening. America and Israel have still not reached an agreement regarding the purchase of the Lockheed F-35 war plane. It is still not clear when that deal, which is estimated to be worth more than $3 billion, will finally be sealed and carried out. If that deal is signed in the near future, Israel will likely receive its first F-35 in 2014. LinkHere

Netanyahu Gets Support Within Israel After White House Dispute

JERUSALEM — Top Israeli officials on Thursday rallied behind embattled Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his dispute with the U.S., deepening the rift between the two allies over Israeli construction in east Jerusalem.
Before Netanyahu returned Thursday afternoon from an unsuccessful visit to the United States, a string of Cabinet ministers declared that Israel would keep on building Jewish homes in east Jerusalem and accused Washington of unfairly putting pressure on the Israeli government.
The tough stance signaled further trouble for the U.S. as it tries to restart Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, which broke down more than a year ago.
Netanyahu left Washington after a last-ditch effort to clear the air with the Americans appeared to fail. The U.S. wants Israel to stop building Jewish homes in east Jerusalem – the section of the city that the Palestinians want as the capital of a future state.
Netanyahu refuses, saying the entire holy city must remain Israel's eternal capital.
Silvan Shalom, Netanyahu's deputy and sometimes rival in the ruling Likud Party, told Israel Radio on Thursday that he "completely supports" the prime minister, saying that the Jewish people's historical bond to Jerusalem is unbreakable.
"The subject of building in Jerusalem is unconditional, and if we blink we will lose everything," Shalom said, warning the government would collapse if Netanyahu backs down.
While he said the relationship with Washington is critical for Israel, he warned that "one-sided" pressure could backfire. In the past, perceived pressure from abroad has rallied Israelis around their leaders.
Interior Minister Eli Yishai, whose office oversees approval of new housing construction, pledged in a newspaper interview to keep on building in east Jerusalem. LinkHere

Be Sure The Truth Will Find You Out

March 25, 2010 "Information Clearing House" -- Well it has now emerged that the British Government used spies, lies and community leaders to spew out anti-Palestinian propaganda during the Gaza War.
And the proof is there, in black and white, for any of you who care to wade through the weighty document called the Annual Report of the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC).
Most MPs are still too busy trying to tot up the shortfall left by the expenses scandal, to leaf through the document which was quietly slipped into Parliament a few days ago. LinkHere

1) The latest Annual Report of the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) is at http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/media/346792/isc-annualreport-0809.pdf

Exclusive: Chomsky claims US-Israel spat isdue to prime minister's 'insulting manner'

Anger Grows Over Israel’s Latest East Jerusalem Settlement Move
Netanyahu Cancels US Media Interviews Amid Tensions

Sen. Bob Corker 'Abandoned' By GOP Leadership Over Bank Reform Outreach

This post has been updated
GOP Senator Bob Corker was emphatic on Wednesday that Republicans missed a big opportunity to influence what is perhaps the most ambitious financial reform bill to pass through the Senate since the Great Depression.
Republicans declined to offer any amendments during Monday's scheduled mark-up of the bill, choosing instead to vote against sending the legislation to the Senate floor strictly along party lines. It passed out of the Senate Banking Committee with 13 Democrats in favor and 10 Republicans opposed.
Failing to reach a bipartisan deal in committee was "a very large strategic mistake," the Tennessee senator told reporters after his speech before a U.S. Chamber of Commerce summit in Washington. Declining to offer amendments, and then passing the bill out of committee along party lines, "talks about how dysfunctional, how dysfunctional we have been as a committee and the Senate has been in addressing this issue," Corker said in reference to financial reform.
Prior to Monday's meeting, Corker told the Huffington Post that, "You're probably going to witness one of the most dysfunctional committee meetings in Senate history."
On Wednesday, his tone remained the same.
"We had an opportunity to pass out a bill out of our committee in a bipartisan way, and then stand on the Senate floor and hold hands and say that we would keep amendments that were unnecessary and improper from coming onto this bill," Corker said. "Instead of that, it's been decided that we are going to try to negotiate now ...
"I think it's going to be far more difficult now that this has passed out of committee ... I think we have made a very, very large mistake, and I regret that."
Banking committee Chairman Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) told HuffPost that "what [Corker] said was his Republican leadership abandoned him."
"They decided they wanted to say 'No' again," Dodd said. "So we went ahead ... If you don't even want to offer yours, I couldn't -- if anyone wanted to offer amendments, I would have been there. They made a decision not to. That was their call. Not mine. And listen, I understand why they wanted to do it." LinkHere

Senate Dems Pass Health Care Reconciliation Package

UPDATE 3/25 2:23PM
Senate Democrats passed the final health care reconciliation package on Thursday afternoon by a vote of 56-43, moving the measure to the House where it will face a last vote before heading to the White House. A vote is expected later Thursday in the lower chamber.
Three Democratic senators voted against the legislation, Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor of Arkansas and Ben Nelson of Nebraska.
An ailing Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) missed the vote.
The Senate action today comes after Beltway pundits said for months that using reconciliation to finish the health care bill was simply impossible. To have been proven wrong so quickly seems to undermine the ability of the punditocracy to continue to play referee to American politics.
Link Here

"Boycott the Discovery Networks"

Baileys Mom
$1.2 million per 8 episodes.

Sign the petition to boycott Discovery Channel's show with Palin here:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/21/boycott-the-discovery-channel-networks

BetterDeadThanRed09
Republicans are pouting at the children's table.It's just astonishing that there are no adults left in the Republican Party...They are having a temper tantrum of epic proportions.. A complete meltdown. It is really scary to think that these are elected officials.

WAS IT SOMETHING HE SAID?

mybostonjack
A bad week for the GOP is a good week for America.

Ex-Bush Speechwriter David Frum 'Terminated' By Top Conservative Think Tank Frum On Sunday: Health Care Was GOP's 'Waterloo,' 'Most Crushing Defeat Since 1960s' MORE: Arianna On Frum's 'Must-Read Health Care Post-Mortem'

Former George W. Bush speechwriter David Frum has resigned from the right-wing American Enterprise Institute, Frum announced on his Web site Thursday afternoon -- a move which suggests the conservative movement has cut ties with Frum over the straight talk he has been providing all week.
[UPDATE: Frum tells Greg Sargent he and AEI parted ways over money, not ideology -- they offered him the chance to continue on at a salary of zero -- and that his criticisms of the Republican Party were "welcomed and celebrated" at the conservative think tank.]
Following the passage of health care reform in the House, Frum made waves with a column for CNN.com declaring that health care had proven to been "Waterloo" for the GOP, not for Obama as Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) infamously suggested. Republican lawmakers quickly dismissed Frum, a prominent reformist conservative, as a mere "former staffer."
Then Frum said on "Nightline" that the Republican Party's lockstep with the Fox News attack machine has hurt the party, and that "we're discovering we work for Fox." That may have been the last straw for AEI.
"I have been a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute since 2003. At lunch today, AEI President Arthur Brooks and I came to a termination of that relationship," Frum wrote on his Web site. The full text of his "resignation" letter is below: LinkHere

GOP embraces their obstuctionism

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Byrd Rule To Send Health Care Back To House, Rules Parliamentarian

Reid Pushing Through The Night To Get Health Care Reconciliation Done

Not tonight

Senate Republicans succeeded early Thursday morning in finding two flaws in the House-passed Health Care reconciliation package. Neither is of any substance, but the Senate parliamentarian informed Democratic leaders that both are in violation of the Byrd Rule.
One is related to Pell Grants and the other makes small technical corrections. Why they're in violation of the Byrd Rule doesn't matter; the upshot is that Republicans will succeed in at least slightly altering the legislation, which means that the House is once again required to vote on it. With no substantial changes, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) should have little problem assembling the same coalition of 220 Democrats who passed the measure Sunday night.
After the Parliamentarian Alan Frumin had advised the leadership of his ruling, the Democratic and Republican leaders huddled on the Senate floor and agreed to adjourn until 9:45 a.m.
Shortly after 2:30 a.m., Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), sitting in the presiding officer's chair, asked if there was any objection to the adjournment. "I guess we're adjourned," said a punch-drunk Franken, hearing none.
"The Parliamentarian struck two minor provisions tonight from the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act, but this bill's passage in the Senate is still a big win for the American people. These changes do not impact the reforms to the student loan programs and the important investments in education. We are confident the House will quickly pass the bill with these minor changes," said a statement from Kate Cyrul, a spokeswoman for Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa).
The bill, however, has yet to pass through the Senate. It will be taken up again Thursday morning. If no further problems are found by the parliamentarian, it can be sent to the House for an immediate vote.
There is no indication that Democrats intend to send Vice President Joe Biden to the Senate chair to overrule the parliamentarian. LinkHere

House Whip: We Have The Votes For A Public Option

NOW!!!!!!

States Of Obstruction: The Places Where They're Trying To Block Health Care

Joe Biden At 2010 Radio & TV Correspondents' Dinner: VP Biden Jokes About Israel Visit, Naked Rahm, Tips From Tiger Woods

Biden on his trip to Israel:• It's great to be back at a place where a boom in housing construction is actually a good thing.
• Trying to negotiate a lasting peace between the Palestinians and Israelis is tough, but it's a hell of a nice break from health care.
Biden on Liz Cheney & the "Al-Qaida 7":• I understand Liz Cheney is in the house... Liz has been on a tear lately. Now, she's questioning if Tom Brady is a real Patriot.
Biden on Obama leading the Saint Patrick's Day Dinner:• You know, the truth is I can't believe I'm here with you guys tonight. Here I am, the first Irish-Catholic Vice President in the history of the United States of America. Barack Obama is the first African-American President in the history of the United States of America. He's hosting the Saint Patrick's Day Dinner and I'm here with you all. Go figure. He's with my base. I'm with his (the press).
Biden on Fox News:• You all know Saint Patrick was credited with banishing snakes from Ireland. But you guys all know the truth -- sometimes -- there were never any snakes in Ireland. Saint Patrick just made that up. Which for the first time explains, I realized, why he's the patron saint of Fox News.
Biden on Dick Morris:• Dick Morris is quick to point out everytime I put my foot in my mouth. Well Dick, at least it's my foot.
Biden on Eric Massa's shower story:• Look, Rahm was only pointing his finger.
Biden on GOP complaints that the health care bill is too long:• Put yourself in their spot. Just ask Sarah, that's a hell of a lot to write on the palm of your hand.
Biden on the Recovery Act:• Republicans say it hasn't created one job. Well, tell that to Scott Brown.
Biden on his dog Champ:• You can see he's a Democratic dog. He's biting the hand that feeds him.
Biden on Tiger woods:• The job does have some perks, like when Tiger Woods came to see me and gave me some tips. Hey guys, they were golf tips. LinkHere

BLACKOUT: Neither Side Will Talk About Obama-Netanyahu Meeting

Israeli Lawmaker: 'Netanyahu Decided To Spit Into Obama's Eye, This Time From Up Close'

JERUSALEM � The Jerusalem municipality has approved 20 new apartments for Jews in an Arab neighborhood of east Jerusalem, the city said Wednesday, in a move that could stir a new diplomatic crisis with the United States just as Israel's leader is in Washington on a fence-mending visit.
The announcement marked the second time this month that Israel has announced new construction in the disputed section of the holy city during face-to-face meetings between top U.S. and Israeli officials.
The Obama administration is seeking "clarification" of the latest building plan and continues to believe Israeli construction in Jerusalem is destructive to the Mideast peace process, said White House spokesman Tommy Vietor.
Israeli lawmaker Eitan Cabel accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of unnecessarily provoking the U.S.
"Is this another 'unfortunate' mistake? Is this another 'misunderstanding?'" said Cabel, a member of the Labor Party, which sits in the governing coalition.
"Netanyahu decided to spit into Obama's eye, this time from up close. He and his pyromaniac ministers insist on setting the Middle East ablaze."
On Wednesday evening, Israel's Channel 10 TV reported that an additional 200 apartments were approved last month for private land near the first 20. A Jerusalem official said the proposal was brought to one of the planning bodies by a private group, but not to the city, which would have to approve it. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because no decision has been made. LinkHere

GORDON DUFF: SABROSKY INTERVIEW TIES ISRAEL TO 9/11

VIEW COMPLETE VIDEO INTERVIEW AT THE END OF THE ARTICLE

GOP Senators REFUSE To Work Past 2PM, Invoking Obscure Rule

Loni Wolf

Well if this isn't the height of GOP insanity....Let's dock their pay for not doing the people's business, then!! It's their damned JOB to be there!! Start re-call petitions for non-performance of duties!! These elephants in a China shop are putting a stop to the nation's business & ought to be fired if they don't like being there. I can also google for Day Care in DC for these lazy clowns!!

LinkHere

Senate Republicans fuming over the passage of health care reform are now refusing to work past 2 p.m. -- a tactic they can employ by invoking a little-known Senate rule.On Wednesday, the Judiciary Committee was forced to cancel a hearing as was the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) tweeted today : "Disappointed. Rs refusing to allow hearings today. Had to cancel my oversight hearing on police training contracts in Afghanistan."
Sen. Mark Udall also complained that he had to delay a hearing on the cause of Western forest fires.
Making good on Sen. John McCain's threat to withhold all Republican cooperation from Democrats in the Senate in retribution for the majority party using reconciliation to pass health care reform, the GOP used the rule that states committees can only meet when the chamber is in session with the unanimous consent of all members. That consent has almost never been withheld -- until now.
Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) asked for consent for his panel to operate Wednesday afternoon. He noted, ironically, that his request had the support of McCain.
"There is objection on our side of the aisle and therefore I object," said Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.).
The GOP objection blocked testimony from Admiral Robert Willard, United States Navy Commander of the U.S. Pacific Command; from General Kevin Chilton, United States Air Force, Commander of the U.S. Strategic Command, and from General Walter Sharp, United States Army Commander, U.S. Forces Korea.

For his part, Judiciary Chairman Pat Leahy (D-Vt.) was livid when his committee was forced to delay consideration of several judicial nominees.
"I have accommodated requests from Judiciary Committee Republicans to delay the Committee's hearing to consider Professor Liu's nomination," Leahy said.
He continued: "For months, Senate Republicans have resisted efforts to enact important reforms to our health insurance system. But when the dust settles and the emotions are calmed, history will show that President Obama and this Congress responded to a pressing national issue, and proved once again that we can act with the purpose of advancing an important national interest. Sadly, actions like today's objections from Senate Republicans to the consideration of a highly qualified, historic nominee will be viewed as little more than petty, partisan politics." LinkHere

Senators Buck Obscure GOP Obstruction Tactic, Hold Hearing

Dems Co-Opting GOP Message: 'Hands Off Our Health Care'

"Hands off my health care!" has been a near constant refrain from Republican leaders and conservative activists in recent months.
Now that health care reform is the law of the land, however, Americans across the country are going to be hearing that message from Democrats.
The Democratic National Committee is launching a series of radio ads touting the benefits of their health care package and hammering Republicans who voted against it. But in a twist, the DNC is co-opting the message of conservatives, warning voters that their newly-minted consumer protections will be stripped away if they put the GOP back in power.
"Leading Republicans are vowing to repeal reform and put the insurance industry back in charge of your health care," a narrator says in the radio spots airing in districts of Republican members. "Call [your congressman] and tell [him], hands off our health care!"
Listen.
LinkHere

Tea Partiers Mock And Scorn Apparent Parkinson's Victim

lazercat2008
The right wing version of Health care.

Welcome to republican style democracy,

Extra Security For Members Of Congress After Activist, Tea Party Threats

Tom Perriello Tea Party Vandalism? FBI Investigating Severed Gas Line At Brother...

Sarah Palin's PAC Puts Gun Sights On Democrats She's Targeting In 2010

Congresswoman Gets 'Sniper' Call

Right-Wing Terrorism Stoked by Conservative Leaders AgainBob Cesca, 03.24.2010
Political Writer, Blogger, and New Media Producer
The far-right fringe is out of its mind about health care reform. And throughout the week, its behavior has gone from irresponsible, to racist, to unapologetically dangerous.

Virginia Tea Partiers Endorse Posting Periello’s Home Address, Insist They’re Not ‘A Violent Group Of People’

They sure as hell didn't concern themselves with 8 years of Bush and Cheneys Tax cut for the rich and 2 wars that were not paid for, now did they, their hypocracy knows no bounds.

After all Cheney says "deficits don't matter" doesn't he?

Israel expects Australia to expel diplomat over fake passports

Israel expects expulsion from Canberra
ROW over fake passports used in assassination likely to claim another Israeli diplomat.

"The Party of No" strikes again, Republicans are throwing a temper tantrum and grinding important Senate business to a halt

There is a little-known rule in the Senate stating that hearings can’t happen after 2:00 p.m. each day without unanimous consent. However, every day, at the start of business, the Senate generally agrees, by unanimous consent, to waive this rule and continue with the necessary business of holding hearings. Here is the rule:
5. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of the rules, when the Senate is in session, no committee of the Senate or any subcommittee thereof may meet, without special leave, after the conclusion of the first two hours after the meeting of the Senate commenced and in no case after two o’clock postmeridian unless consent therefor has been obtained from the majority leader and the minority leader (or in the event of the absence of either of such leaders, from his designee). The prohibition contained in the preceding sentence shall not apply to the Committee on Appropriations or the Committee on the Budget. The majority leader or his designee shall announce to the Senate whenever consent has been given under this subparagraph and shall state the time and place of such meeting. The right to make such announcement of consent shall have the same priority as the filing of a cloture motion.
Republicans, however, are now refusing to give unanimous consent and are blocking the hearings. Today, during a Senate Homeland Security Subcommittee hearing on transparency, Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE) announced that he had to stop the proceedings because of Republican blocks:
I have just been advised by my staff that on the floor of the Senate there has been a move to stop all the proceedings in hearings that are going on in the Senate, and we are compelled to stop at this point in time. And I regret it, but there are rules here when we reach point in time and unless there’s unanimous consent to proceed for — as you may recall — unless there’s unanimous consent in the Senate to be able to proceed, we can only go on for so long and then we have to stop our hearings. And the whistle has blown. Unfortunately, we and all the other committees and subcommittees that are holding hearings have to, at this time, cease. I feel very badly about that. It’s not my doing. LinkHere

Update Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's (D-NV) office put out a statement this afternoon responding to the GOP blocks:
Senator McCain’s promised obstruction comes to reality just a day later. "The Party of No" wouldn’t even agree to let Senate committees meet today. Ironically, as they make false claims about transparency regarding health reform, they’re shutting down a committee hearing today on transparency in government.
The bottom line is that as millions of Americans are learning about the immediate benefits of health reform, Republicans are throwing a temper tantrum and grinding important Senate business to a halt.

US warns of al-Qaida threat to ships off Yemen

CAIRO — The U.S. is warning of possible al-Qaida attacks against ships off the coast of Yemen, where an offshoot of the terrorist network has established a significant base of operations over the past year.
Yemen became a focus of deep international concern in December when al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula claimed responsibility for the failed attempt to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner, showing the group based in an impoverished and unstable corner of the Middle East had global reach.
"Information suggests that al-Qaida remains interested in maritime attacks in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden along the coast of Yemen," said an advisory from the U.S. Department of Transportation, which was posted on the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence Web site.
The warning said such attacks could be similar to the 2000 strike against the Navy destroyer USS Cole in Yemen's Aden harbor that killed 17 American sailors. The attackers used a small boat laden with explosives to blow a hole in the side of the ship.
"Other more sophisticated methods of attack could include missiles or projectiles," said the advisory, which was dated March 10.
In particular, ships are at greatest risk while in or near ports or at anchor, it said.
The statement advised vessels in the waterway leading to and from the Suez Canal to maintain 24-hour visual and radar watches and regularly report their position, course and speed to maritime authorities. LinkHere

It will be interesting to see who blinks first, won't it? The time is now

Netanyahu to Biden: We Don’t Need America

A Rotten Deal
Israel didn't just spit in Joe Biden's face last week. It jeopardized America's willingness to protect it from Iran.

Vice President Joe Biden's visit to Israel last week was rightly hailed as a catastrophe—but not because of settlements. After a tense year in which Washington had failed to stop Prime Minister Benyamin "Bibi" Netanyahu from settling more occupied land, Biden had come to shore up the relationship. Instead, officials in Netanyahu's government caught both men off guard by announcing plans to build more in contested East Jerusalem. True, that was a snafu. But the real disaster was what it may cost Israel. Biden had come to offer not just friendship, but support (and protection) against Iran—Israel's greatest bogeyman—in exchange for a few concessions from Netanyahu. Instead, he got a finger in the eye.

=====

So now it's down to a high-stakes test of wills: will Netanyahu, following his show of partisanship, concede on settlement building—or will Obama back down under the pro-Israel-lobby pressure? Isolating Israel could push it to attack Iran's nuclear plants. But caving to Israel could strengthen anti-American feelings throughout the Middle East. It's not clear who will blink first, but it's obvious that, where once there was an understanding, today there is only a contest. LinkHere

After the Fall

Republicans said stopping health-care reform was a battle for the country's soul. So what do they do now that they've lost?

GOP Guessing Game
Who will be the Republican nominee in 2012? We examine the likely candidates.

Sunday was a tough day for the loyal opposition, and you could gauge early on just how hard Republicans took the Democrats' impending win on health-care reform. During ABC's morning political show This Week, conservative political guru Karl Rove whipped out a whiteboard covered in scribbles to dispute the Congressional Budget Office's estimation that the health-care bill will cut the deficit. Debating the issue with President Obama's erstwhile campaign manager, David Plouffe, sent Rove into hysteria: "For God's sake, will you stop throwing around epithets and deal with the facts for once, David!" How the mighty have fallen.

Rove isn't the only casualty. The vaunted tea partiers, who terrified the entire Democratic caucus as recently as last August, spent the day just outside the House chambers, waving every flag they could get their hands on and demanding that representatives "kill the bill." As the House of Representatives moved, vote by glacial vote, to approve the Senate's health-reform legislation and a package of fixes to be approved by the Senate in coming days, the crowd slowly dissipated until only a group of hoarse hardliners remained. By end of the night, nearly all of the remaining demonstrators were pro-reform.
Even the normally laconic Republican leader John Boehner gave a rousing speech before the final vote, shouting, arguing with the chamber's presiding officer over rules, and warning darkly of punishment to come: "We have failed to listen to America … This is the people's house, and the moment the majority forgets it, they are on their way to the minority."

So what do Republicans do now? They claimed that if the bill passed it would "cripple free enterprise" (Rep. Cathy McMorris-Rodgers), "lay the cornerstone of [the Democrats'] socialist utopia on the backs of the American people" (Rep. Devin Nunes), or become "the death of freedom" (Rep. Marsha Blackburn). What do they do the day after freedom dies?
Well, they aren't planning to just accept the actions of the people's duly elected representatives as legitimate—you can't promise Stalin and end up with some health-care co-ops. So they are adopting a new set of tactics. LinkHere

Jon Stewart's Best Tea Bagger Moments (VIDEO)

Darn, you take a week off now Jon, when all the fun is just beginning and the GOP are all losing their sanity.

With the health care bill passed, let's turn to Jon Stewart to to cover it with hilarity...Wait, what? The "Daily Show" is on a break? Damnit damnit damnit.
Okay, so no "Daily Show" this week. But at least the fine folks over there were gracious enough to cut together Jon's best Tea Bagger jokes. This will hold us over for the time being. LinkHere

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
On Topic: Scandal-List - Tea Bagging
http://www.thedailyshow.com/
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Reform

First Corporate-Funded Campaign Ad Appears After Supreme Court Decision

A Texas company recently took out a political ad in several local newspapers, making it one of the first corporations to do so in the wake of a landmark Supreme Court ruling that lifted restrictions on corporate political spending.
The Texas Tribune reports that the company, KDR Development, paid for an ad against state Rep. Chuck Hopson, formerly a Democratic member of the state legislature who switched parties and ran in the Republican primary for re-election.
The ad headline reads: "Vote for a REAL Republican," and it challenges Hopson's Republican credentials. The sponsorship line at the bottom of the ad reads: "Political advertisement paid for by KDR Development, Inc." The ads ran in the Jacksonville Daily Progress, the Tyler Morning Telegram and the Panola Watchman, small newspaper in East Texas.
According to the Texas Tribune:
The newspaper ads ran in Jacksonville and Tyler on the Sunday before the election and a week earlier in Panola, and they urged voters to choose anyone but Hopson. They were paid for by KDR Development Inc., a real estate company whose president, Republican Larry Durrett, lost to Hopson in 2006, when Hopson was still a Democrat. Durrett is also the president of Southern Multifoods, a Jacksonville-based company with dozens of franchised Taco Bell, KFC, Pizza Hut, A&W and Long John Silvers restaurants. The two companies are closely related, sharing addresses, officers and directors.
"I think we're on solid legal ground," Durrett said in an interview. "We checked it out every way from Sunday."
Durrett's effort to help defeat Hopson in the three-way GOP primary, however, was not successful -- Hopson won.
According to the interview in the Tribune, Durrett consulted lawyers before running the ads to be sure they were legal. LinkHere

Corporation Says It Will Run for Congress

By CATHERINE RAMPELL
Following the Supreme Court decision implicitly granting corporations the right to free speech (by determining that political spending is a kind of speech), a corporation has decided to take what it believes to be “democracy’s next step”: It is running for Congress.
With more than a twinge of irony, Murray Hill Incorporated, a liberal public relations firm, recently announced that it planned to run in the Republican primary in Maryland’s 8th Congressional District.
Here is the company’s first “campaign” ad: LinkHere

Judge Orders High-Profile Gitmo Detainee Released

Military Prosecutors Had Hoped to Execute Salahi

by Jason Ditz, March 22, 2010

Federal judge James Robertson today ordered Mohamedou Ould Salahi, once referred to as the “highest value detainee” in all of Guantanamo Bay, released after ruling that the government lacked any legal basis to hold him. The details of the release order are classified, but a redacted version is expected in the next few weeks.

Salahi has been held by the US since November 20, 2001. The memo regarding his detention accused him of traveling to Afghanistan to wage jihad, though this was decades ago in response to the Soviet occupation. He was arrested in Mauritania and renditioned to Jordan.
Salahi’s abuse in US custody, amid accusations that he was a “top” al-Qaeda operative, have been well documented, and prosecutors have repeatedly expressed hope that he could eventually be executed.
Though the Justice Department is said to be reviewing the ruling and Salahi remains in custody for the time being, the order does serious damage to the credibility of the military commissions system, as his attorney, Nancy Hollander noted: “they were considering giving him the death penalty. Now they don’t even have enough evidence to pass the test for habeas.” LinkHere

Allawi Won’t Accept ‘One-Man Rule’ for Maliki

Suggests Grand Coalition Government Remains Possible, if Maliki Changes

by Jason Ditz, March 22, 2010

Former Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi today vowed that the process for forming a government would not be a quick one, and that his Iraqiya faction would prevent the return to the “one-man rule” of the Maliki government.
Allawi said he wasn’t particularly concerned with “what kind of shape the government will take or how long it’s going to take,” but insisted that a quick resolution was a recipe for disaster.
Allawi’s Iraqiya bloc is neck-and-neck with Maliki’s State of Law party as the vote count nears an end. Whichever bloc ends up with more seats will get first crack at forming a government, and right now it truly could go either way.
But while most of the attention has been on either of the two frontrunners forming a government and relegating the other to the minority, Allawi said it was possible they could join together in a grand coalition. This would only happen, Allawi insisted, if Maliki abandoned his sectarian positions and gave significant government positions to other people. Without that, Allawi cautioned, Maliki would have “no future.” LinkHere

STILL TENSE: Obama-Netanyahu Meeting At White House Closed To Reporters

santai

I equate the way Israelis treat Palestians with how Germans treated the Jews. Set up ghettos and when the caged people throw rocks (or rockets) then go in with force. That one Jewish life seems to be far more valuable than a Palestinian goes against everything idea America is built on.

Ain't that the truth

I just bet the meeting will be closed to reporters, who can stomach Netanyahu, obviously not the Leader Of The Free World from the look on his face, speaks volumes.

AP) WASHINGTON - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is criss-crossing the Washington power grid Tuesday, striving to explain his country's position in a widening debate over its plans to construct new housing in east Jerusalem.
Netanyahu had a Capitol Hill meeting scheduled with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., a day after holding talks with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. He plans to meet later Tuesday at the White House with President Barack Obama.
Netanyahu has been trying to deflect U.S. criticism of his government's announcement of plans for 1,600 housing units in a part of Jerusalem that Palestinians claim as their own. He bluntly asserted before the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee Monday that "Jerusalem is not a settlement. It's our capital."
The plan has drawn sharp criticism from the Obama administration. Clinton told a pro-Israel audience Monday that provocative Israeli land policies in areas claimed by the Palestinians are not in Israel's long-term interests and undermine U.S. credibility as a mediator in the Mideast peace process.
Obama has remained out of the fray as Clinton and other U.S. officials have rebuked Israel for its announcement of new construction in east Jerusalem, which came while Vice President Joe Biden was visiting the country. The announcement embarrassed Biden, a staunch supporter of Israel, and led to new stress in relations between Washington and its top Middle Eastern ally.
Obama agreed to see Netanyahu on Tuesday at the White House -- Obama's first meeting with the Israeli leader since the severe diplomatic breach. But the meeting will be closed to reporters, an unusual choice when hosting a close ally and a sign that suggested the rift may not be entirely healed. LinkHere

Netanyahu Rebukes Obama in AIPAC Speech

Though many expected him to deliver a more measured response in the wake of last week’s very public row with the United States, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered another angry rebuke to the Obama Administration over the settlement expansion which stalled the US brokered indirect peace talks.
Netanyahu declared that the settlements in occupied East Jerusalem weren’t technically settlements at all, because “everyone knows” that Jerusalem will be the eternal and undivided capital of Israel. Israel invaded and occupied East Jerusalem in 1967, along with the rest of the West Bank, and its legal control over the territory has never been established in international law.
But this did not stop Netanyahu from declaring that Israel had been “unjustly accused of not wanting peace” because of the settlement expansion, which killed the peace talks. Netanyahu insisted that his government has consistently shown a commitment to peace “from day one” and that it was only the Palestinians who were holding up the process.

LinkHere

Report: Netanyahu to ask Obama for weapons to strike Iran
By Haaretz Service

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will use a visit to Washington this week to press the U.S. to release advanced weapons needed for a possible strike on Iran's nuclear sites, the Sunday Times reported. Ahead of his departure Sunday night, Netanyahu bowed to U.S. demands and promised the administration of U.S President Barack Obama that Israel will make several goodwill gestures toward the Palestinians. For the first time since Operation Cast Lead, Israel has agreed to ease the blockade on the Gaza Strip. Netanyahu has also agreed to discuss all core issues during the proximity talks, with the condition of reaching final conclusions only in direct talks with the PA.
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But according to the London weekly, Netanyahu will also seek returns for the concessions, asking Israel's closest ally to provide the IAF with sophisticated 'bunker-buster' bombs needed to break through to Iran's nuclear enrichment installations, many of which are buried underground. Israel and the West accuse Iran of using its enrichment program to build a nuclear bomb, a charge Tehran denies. Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush, is believed to have refused previous Israeli requests for the GBU-28 bombs, as well as for upgraded refuelling tanker aircraft that would enable a long-range airstrike on Iran. But Netanyahu may have a tough task before him in persuading Obama to arm Israel for a strike and current U.S. strategy appears to favor a diplomatic, rather than a military, solution to the Iran's dispute with the West. LinkHere

Bibi’s Bluster

The Israeli Prime Minister says his nation's security is his top priority. Too bad he's undermining it.
By Fareed Zakaria NEWSWEEK
In international relations, whenever you hear the term "confidence-building measures," you can be sure that someone is trying to kick a can down the road. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu has now promised to offer such measures to the Palestinians. He has also urged that everyone "calm down" about the diplomatic row between his government and the United States.
But this crisis hasn't been caused by just one event—the announcement, while Vice President Joe Biden was visiting Israel, to approve new Jewish housing units in East Jerusalem. It caps a year of increasingly strained relations between Washington and Tel Aviv. And while he's apologized for the ill-timed announcement, Netanyahu remains unyielding. In fact, the Israeli press has reported plans to build not merely the 1,600 units announced last week, but 50,000. "We will act according to the vital interests of the state of Israel," Netanyahu said last week.
What are those vital interests? If you have listened to Bibi Netanyahu over the past few years, it's clear what tops the list—Iran. In fact, the prime minister has described the Iranian threat as an existential one for Israel, and a grave one for the world. He sees combating it as the central challenge of our times. "We are faced with security challenges that no other country faces, and our need to provide a response to these is critical, and we are answering the call," Netanyahu told his Likud faction in May 2009. "These are not regular times. The danger is hurtling toward us. My job is first and foremost to ensure the future of the state of Israel."
But after watching Netanyahu's government over the past year, I have concluded that he is actually not serious about the Iranian threat. If tackling the rise of Iran were his paramount concern, would he have allowed a collapse in relations with the United States, the country whose military, political, and economic help is indispensable in confronting this challenge? If taking on Iran were his central preoccupation, wouldn't he have subordinated petty domestic considerations and done everything to bolster ties with the United States? Bibi likes to think of himself as Winston Churchill, warning the world of a gathering storm. But he should bear in mind that Churchill's single obsession during the late 1930s was to strengthen his alliance with the United States, whatever the costs, concessions, and compromises he had to make.
In a smart piece of analysis in Israel's Haaretz newspaper, Anshel Pfeffer, no fan of the Obama administration, writes, "When senior ministers or generals list Israel's defense priorities, there is always one point on which there exists total consensus: The alliance with the United States as the nation's greatest strategic asset, way above anything else. It is more crucial than the professionalism of the Israel Defense Forces, than the peace treaty with Egypt and even than the secret doomsday weapons that we may or may not have squirreled away somewhere…But [Netanyahu] has succeeded in one short year in power to plunge Israel's essential relationship with the United States to unheard of depths." LinkHere